High chair



Feb. 15,1927. 1,617,882

- C. J. WALKER HIGH CHAIR Filed Nov. 8, 1922 W-MQ A'TTY.

Patented Feb. 15 1927.

UNITED STATES i,ti?,882 PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES J'. WALKER, OF GARY, INDIANA.

HIGH CHAIR.

Application fil'ed'NovemlJer 8, 1922. Serial No. 599,735.

The ordinary high chair, while used for children varying greatly in' size, not only in height, but also in girth must, of course, be designed to fit a child of a particular size and girth, and consequently other children must make the best of the conditions as they find them. One of the dangers of high chairs is that the child will stand up in the same, and then fall out of the chair. As the size of the child decreases below that of the ordinary child for whose lines the chair was designed, this danger increases, although the need for guarding the child is greater than in the case of a largerchi-ld.

The principal object of the present inven-- tion' is so to construct a high chair that it will be difficult and, in fact, practically impossible for a child stand up in the chair and thus be in danger of falling out.

A further object of the present invention is to combine with the safety feature, just mentioned, an adjustable feature which will permit the chair to be adjusted to fit child ten of various sizes.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized Will herein after be pointed out with particularity in the claims, but, for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects and advantages, reference may'be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a front elevation of a high chair embodying my invention in a preferred form; the thighs of a child seated in the chair being diagrainmatically indicated; and

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, portions of the trunk and legs of the child seated in the chair being shown.

Referring to the drawing, 1 represents the seat of a high chair of any usual or suitable construction having arms 2 or the equivalent thereof at the sides. 3 is a tray member of any usual or suitable construction extending across the front ends of the arms above the seat. In order that the tray may be at the proper height relatively to a child seated in the chair, the distance between the seat and the tray is so great that almost any child can readily draw its legs up upon the seat and then rise to a standing position. In order to make it more difficult for a child to draw its legs up, a strap is sometimes fastened at its ends to the tray ment; extending between the barrier and. the front of the seat, so as to divide the space between the barrier and. the seat. into two comparatively small compartments, each of which is adapted to receive one of thelegs of the child and thus make it still more difiicult and, in fact, practically impossible for any child to rise up on its feet on the seat of the chair. The barrier may take any desired form and be attached to the chair in any desired way; it being preferably made movable so that it can be shifted out of the way when a child is being placed inor taken out of the chair. In the arrangement shown, the barrier is in the form of a U-shaped rod 4t, the free ends of the arms of. which are fastened to the tray, while the cross piece lies parallel with the seat and extends across and in close proximity with the thighs of the child seated in the chair. If the barrier be fastened to the tray it can be swung into and out of position with the tray, and therefore requires no additional operations to be performed aside from those necessary to move the usual trays into and out of position. Furthermore, if the tray be adjustable, the barrier will be automatically adjusted simultaneously wvith the tray. In the arrangement shown, the tray is supported on the front ends of two arms 5 hinged at their rear ends to the top of the back 6 of the chair. Therefore, when the tray is swung up out of the way the barrier is also lifted and, when the child has been seated in the chair and the tray is swung down in front of it, the barrier automatically assumes its working position.

The central or partition element may take any suitable form; there being, in the arrangement shown, a strap fastened at one end to the cross bar of the U-shaped barrier and having at its other end a suitable detachable fastening device 8 adapted to secure the free end of the strap to the under side of the seat.

In the case of a small child seated in a chair having a seat much too long from front to rear, it might still be possible for it to slide back in the chair far enough to permit it to draw up its legs. I therefore prefer to make the effective chair back 5) adjustable toward and from the tray, thus making it possible always to place a wall or abutment behind the child at a point which will prevent the child from sliding back 011 the seat. Another advantage that results from this feature is that when the back is properly adjusted, the inner edge of the tray will lie close to the stomach of the child, while the back of the child is being supported, and consequently the freedom of action of the child is greatly restricted and it cannot secure the freedom of movement necessary to draw its legs up under the barrier, even though it be quite a small child. Quite aside from the safety feature of the adjustable back is another, namely, that the comfort of the child is greatly increased when it has something to rest its back against while its abdomen is close to the tray.

In the arrangement shown, the adjustment of the back is secured by providing the arms of the chair on their inner edges with notches 10 into which lugs or projections 11 on the chair back may extend and providing the chair seat with holes 12 extending through the same in a row extending from the rear toward the front and having a spacing between the holes corresponding to the spacing of the notches in the arms. A suitable screw-threaded pin or projection 13 is adapted to extend downwardly from the chair back through any one of the holes above which the back is located and, when a nut 14 is placed on the lower end of the member 13, the chair back is locked against displacement.

IVhile I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the terms employed in the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A high chair having a seat and a tray arranged above the front end of the seat, a back adj usable from and towards said tray, and a barrier extending transversely across the seat underneath the tray.

2. A high chair having a seat and a tray arranged above the front end of the seat, a back adjustable from and toward the tray, and means between the seat and the tray forming two leg-receiving COIIlPilltlllQlltS arranged side by side above the seat and of much less depth than the distance between the seat and the tray.

8. A high chair having a seat, uprights at the rear corners of the seat, a tray pivotally mounted on said uprights so that it may be swung from a position above the seat to an idle position to permit a child to enter or leave the chair, a back adjustable forwardly along the seat from a position in proximity to said uprights, and a barrier movable with the tray and so located with respect thereto that when the tray lies above the seat the barrier extends across and much closer to the seat than does the tray.

I11 testimony whereof, I sign this specification.

CHARLES J. WALKER. 

